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Congress' presidential poll taking ugly turn

The bitter battle between Sonia Gandhi and Jitendra Prasada for the Congress chief's post deepened on Tuesday with the former's slogan-shouting supporters burning an effigy of the latter after hitting it with slippers and sandals outside the All India Congress Committee headquarters.

"Jitendra Prasada sharm karo, sasti prachar bund karo," (shame on you Jitendra Prasada, stop the publicity-grabbing tactics), Sonia's supporters shouted while urging her challenger to immediately withdraw his nomination papers for contesting the party chief's post.

The incident clearly indicated that Prasada's candidature had not gone down well with the Sonia camp. After raining blows on Prasada's effigy with slippers and sandals, Sonia's supporters burnt it.

Later addressing a press conference, Prasada kept his cool and pointed out that he had decided to embark on a tour of the states and Union territories for marshalling support for himself among Pradesh Congress Committee delegates (who constitute the electoral college).

However, his job had been made tougher as scrutiny of the PCC delegates' list from the states revealed that their addresses were missing.

"How am I going to meet the PCC delegates when their addresses are missing from the list?" Prasada asked, adding that he had urged Ram Niwas Mirdha, chairman of the party's Central Election Authority, to expeditiously rectify this shortcoming.

" I believe we shall be setting a healthy precedent in accordance with the best principles of democratic polity if, as a candidate for the Congress president's election, I place myself before the delegates to give them an opportunity to raise questions about the issues which I have raised," Prasada wrote to Mirdha on Tuesday.

He also urged Mirdha to inform all PCC presidents and instruct them to assist him in meeting the delegates at the PCC offices in the states.

Prasada stressed that he had received many letters of support from partymen and that he was looking forward to Mirdha facilitating his visit to the states for meeting the PCC delegates to garner their support.

Meanwhile, addressing reporters at the AICC headquarters, Mirdha cleared some doubts about the polling process for the Congress chief's post. He informed that the ballot boxes would be sealed once the voting was completed on November 15.

Mirdha clarified that the votes would be 'mixed together' before counting began. This means that delegates do not have to worry about contestants knowing whom they voted for.

When Prasada was informed about it, he quipped, "I should have raised some more issues. Maybe, they would have been taken care of by the CEA."

The CEA had met on Monday and reviewed the progress regarding the party's organisational elections. It had come across various complaints from the states and felt that an appropriate machinery should be set up to go into the complaints.

Consequently, the CEA had decided to constitute a committee comprising the AICC general secretary looking after the concerned state, a representative of the PCC and one from the state election authority to look into complaints.

Thereafter, the committee would forward its recommendations to the CEA for initiating necessary action, Mirdha informed.

Meanwhile, former Youth Congress president Maninderjit Singh Bitta, who is backing Prasada's candidature, maintained that he had the names of the 'hardcore Punjab terrorists who have been accommodated in the PCC delegates' list from Punjab'.

Bitta alleged that a former gunman of the late Sant Bhindranwale had been accommodated in the list.

ALSO SEE
Forgery alleged in Prasada's poll papers

EARLIER REPORTS
Prasada refuses to pull his punches
Delegates file countless Sonia nominations; none for Prasada
Congress poll process extended by a day
Congress presidential tussle may land in court

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